From "The Mouths of Babes!"

By Deborah Holmes

Posted:
05/04/2017 09:22:34 AM MDT

High Altitude Health Deborah Holmes MedX of Estes

We make everything so difficult in this world, including the way we exercise. The first thing each of my kids said when I asked them many years ago, "What do people need to do in order to stay healthy?" Their answer was to play sports, move and run.

How simple is that? Think about how kids look and feel when they've finished playing their favorite sport or come in from a play date. What movement and exercise does to their little bodies, is seen on their faces and in their energy, it's as simple as that. What's good for little people is equally as good for big people.

As a swimming coach, I watch kids "drag" into the aquatic center after school, feeling so tired, not wanting to practice, fussing, complaining and essentially worthless. Then as we get going with practice and start to warm-up, the afternoon exhaustion goes away and before long they are bouncing off the walls having a good time and enjoying practice.

I see it in my own children, particularly when they are finished with their sport; their eyes are sharp, their skin is bright, their energy is up, they are more talkative, they eat well and they are asleep before their heads even hit the pillow every night.

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Even a six-year-old knows how great they feel after moving! They might not know it with an adult understanding of the benefits of exercise and sport, they know it with respect to a kids understanding of feeling better and doing better and having fun. Why can't adults think this way? Exercise can possibly be fun?

They even know what's bad for them, my 12-year-old hit the nail on the head when he said that the electronics of today are not good for you and they will eat your brain. Still it's up to us to make them turn off those electronics and get moving, but they know what's right and we, as adults, do too.

Have you ever watched a child eat? Most kids who have normal, healthy appetites and who have been raised with proper nutrition and who have been given healthy choices from an early age will eat to live, not live to eat. My kids are big breakfast eaters, they wake up hungry which is what we are all supposed to do. Then around 10 a.m., they are hungry again (second breakfast, like the Hobbits eat in Lord of the Rings; it's a family thing we have going). Lunch is usually not a problem for most kids, followed by an after-school snack, dinner and a final dessert (or snack) before bedtime. That's five or six small meals or snacks throughout the day. They naturally keep their blood sugars up and their energy levels up by eating when their bodies tell them its time to eat.

You have to eat the green stuff as Holli so eloquently said when she was younger. Kids know the nutritional difference between chips and an apple and they might very well choose the chips every time, unless the parent encourages and makes available the apple. I've taught my kids the importance of colorful meals; not only is it important to eat the green stuff but it's also important to eat reds, yellows, browns and purples. Foods that are full of color and are as fresh as possible bring about better opportunities for a healthier diet and if you eat chips, eat them in moderation!

As adults, we know how our attitude, decisions and brain cells can either keep us from or allow us to achieve some awesome things in life. It's these same brain controls that keep most of us from practicing healthy habits and exercising. Kids notice when their adults don't participate and don't take care of themselves and they notice when they do. Believe me, your kids see your increased energy after a workout and they like it too.

Maybe we can all learn a little something from the little people in our lives and how simply they believe. Getting, staying and being healthy and fit is a lot simpler than most of us adults make it out to be.

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